Berlin School Trip Report

Students from HVC have just enjoyed a fantastic trip to Germany's capital city Berlin.

The busy itinerary included a number of guided tours of the Reichstag, Olympic Stadium, Sachsenhausen concentration camp and the Hohenschonhausen memorial, the former Stazi prison in East Berlin.

Above:Students in the press conference room in the Olympic Stadium.Above: Mr Young with one of the Berlin Bears, which can be found all over the city.

Students also had the chance to visit many of Berlin's top tourist attractions including the Brandenburg gate, Checkpoint Charlie and a wander up Unter den Linden, Berlin's main street. Students were able to practice their language skills at stop offs in Alexanderplatz and Potsdammer Platz and appreciate the rich tapestry of history in one of Europe's best cities.

Student behaviour was exemplary with staff, tour guides and former parents met on the plane commenting on how they were a credit to themselves and the school with their politeness and engagement. Group Leader, Chris Young, commented "Berlin has a challenging history in so many ways and our students engaged with that history in a fantasticly. I am immensely proud of every student and of the staff that enabled this enrichment experience to happen".

Above: students in front of Tower A which is the entrance to Sachenhausen concentration camp.

Above: The Arbeit Macht Frei sign, the gate of Tower A) so the students are behind the sign in the camp itself.

Places we visted:

Reichstag (guided tour)

Brandenburg Gate

Unter den Linden

Olympic Stadium (guided tour)

Gedachtniskirche (bombed out church at Kurfurstdamm)

AlexanderPlatz ( Fernsehturm and Weltzeituhr)

Denkmal fur die ermordeeten Juden Europas (Holocaust memorial)

Potsdammer Platz

Gendarmenmarkt

Babelplatz (site of the 1933 book burning)

Sachenhausen (guided tour)

Checkpoint Charlie Museum

Stazi Museum (former Stazi headquarters)

Hohenschonhausen memorial (guided tour of the former Stazi/KGB prison)